Refugee/Migrant Crisis

spaminator

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Detainees describe worms in food, sewage near beds inside ’Alligator Alcatraz’
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Gisela Salomon And Kate Payne
Published Jul 11, 2025 • 4 minute read

071125-Immigration-Florida
Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell /AP
MIAMI (AP) — Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved ones.


Only days after President Donald Trump toured a new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” these are some of the conditions described by people held inside.


Attorneys, advocates, detainees and families are speaking out about the makeshift migrant detention center Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. The center began accepting detainees on July 2.

“These are human beings who have inherent rights, and they have a right to dignity,” said immigration attorney Josephine Arroyo. “And they’re violating a lot of their rights by putting them there.”

Government officials have adamantly disputed the conditions described by detainees, their attorneys and family members, but have provided few details, and have denied access to the media. A televised tour for Trump and DeSantis showed rows of chain-link cages, each containing dozens of bunkbeds, under large white tents.


“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the center.

A group of Democratic lawmakers sued the DeSantis administration for access. The administration is allowing a site visit by state legislators and members of Congress on Saturday, July 12.

Descriptions of attorneys and families differ from the government’s “model”
Families and attorneys who spoke with The Associated Press relayed detainees’ accounts of a place they say is unsanitary and lacks adequate medical care, pushing some into a state of extreme distress.


Such conditions make other immigration detention centers where advocates and staff have warned of unsanitary confinements, medical neglect and a lack of food and water seem “advanced,” said immigration attorney Atara Eig.

Trump and his allies have praised this detention center’s harshness and remoteness as befitting the “worst of the worst” and as a national model for the deterrence needed to persuade immigrants to “self-deport” from the United States.

But among those locked inside the chain-link enclosures are people with no criminal records, and at least one teenage boy, attorneys told the AP.

Concerns about medical care, lack of medicines
Immigration attorney Katie Blankenship described a concerning lack of medical care at the facility, relaying an account from a 35-year-old Cuban client who told his wife that detainees go days without a shower. The toilets are in the same space as the bunkbeds and can’t handle their needs, she said.


The wife, a 28-year-old green card holder and the mother of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, relayed his complaints to the AP. Fearing government retaliation against her and her detained husband, she asked not to be identified.

“They have no way to bathe, no way to wash their mouths, the toilet overflows and the floor is flooded with pee and poop,” the woman told the AP. “They eat once a day and have two minutes to eat. The meals have worms,” she added.

The woman said the detainees “all went on a hunger strike” on Thursday night to protest the conditions.

“There are days when I don’t know anything about him until the evening,” she said, describing waiting for his calls, interrupted every three minutes by an announcement that the conversation is being recorded.


No meetings with attorneys
The detainees’ attorneys say their due process rights are among numerous constitutional protections being denied.

Blankenship is among the lawyers who have been refused access. After travelling to the remote facility and waiting for hours to speak with her clients, including a 15-year-old Mexican boy with no criminal charges, she was turned away by a security guard who told her to wait for a phone call in 48 hours that would notify her when she could return.

“I said, well, what’s the phone number that I can follow up with that? There is none,” Blankenship recalled. “You have due process obligations, and this is a violation of it.”

Arroyo’s client, a 36-year-old Mexican man who came to the U.S. as a child, has been detained at the center since July 5 after being picked up for driving with a suspended license in Florida’s Orange County. He’s a beneficiary of the DACA program, created to protect young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and to provide them with work authorization.


Blankenship’s Cuban client paid a bond and was told he’d be freed on a criminal charge in Miami, only to be detained and transferred to the Everglades.

Eig has been seeking the release of a client in his 50s with no criminal record and a stay of removal, meaning the government can’t legally deport him while he appeals. But she hasn’t been able to get a bond hearing. She’s heard that an immigration court inside the Krome Detention Center in Miami “may be hearing cases” from the Everglades facility, but as of Friday, they were still waiting.

“Jurisdiction remains an issue,” Eig said, adding “the issue of who’s in charge over there is very concerning.”
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Low Earth Orbit
Detainees describe worms in food, sewage near beds inside ’Alligator Alcatraz’
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Gisela Salomon And Kate Payne
Published Jul 11, 2025 • 4 minute read

071125-Immigration-Florida
Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. Photo by Rebecca Blackwell /AP
MIAMI (AP) — Worms in the food. Toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste. Days without a shower or prescription medicine. Mosquitoes and insects everywhere. Lights on all night. Air conditioners that suddenly shut off in the tropical heat. Detainees forced to use recorded phone lines to speak with their lawyers and loved ones.


Only days after President Donald Trump toured a new immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” these are some of the conditions described by people held inside.


Attorneys, advocates, detainees and families are speaking out about the makeshift migrant detention center Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. The center began accepting detainees on July 2.

“These are human beings who have inherent rights, and they have a right to dignity,” said immigration attorney Josephine Arroyo. “And they’re violating a lot of their rights by putting them there.”

Government officials have adamantly disputed the conditions described by detainees, their attorneys and family members, but have provided few details, and have denied access to the media. A televised tour for Trump and DeSantis showed rows of chain-link cages, each containing dozens of bunkbeds, under large white tents.


“The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” said Stephanie Hartman, a spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the center.

A group of Democratic lawmakers sued the DeSantis administration for access. The administration is allowing a site visit by state legislators and members of Congress on Saturday, July 12.

Descriptions of attorneys and families differ from the government’s “model”
Families and attorneys who spoke with The Associated Press relayed detainees’ accounts of a place they say is unsanitary and lacks adequate medical care, pushing some into a state of extreme distress.


Such conditions make other immigration detention centers where advocates and staff have warned of unsanitary confinements, medical neglect and a lack of food and water seem “advanced,” said immigration attorney Atara Eig.

Trump and his allies have praised this detention center’s harshness and remoteness as befitting the “worst of the worst” and as a national model for the deterrence needed to persuade immigrants to “self-deport” from the United States.

But among those locked inside the chain-link enclosures are people with no criminal records, and at least one teenage boy, attorneys told the AP.

Concerns about medical care, lack of medicines
Immigration attorney Katie Blankenship described a concerning lack of medical care at the facility, relaying an account from a 35-year-old Cuban client who told his wife that detainees go days without a shower. The toilets are in the same space as the bunkbeds and can’t handle their needs, she said.


The wife, a 28-year-old green card holder and the mother of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, relayed his complaints to the AP. Fearing government retaliation against her and her detained husband, she asked not to be identified.

“They have no way to bathe, no way to wash their mouths, the toilet overflows and the floor is flooded with pee and poop,” the woman told the AP. “They eat once a day and have two minutes to eat. The meals have worms,” she added.

The woman said the detainees “all went on a hunger strike” on Thursday night to protest the conditions.

“There are days when I don’t know anything about him until the evening,” she said, describing waiting for his calls, interrupted every three minutes by an announcement that the conversation is being recorded.


No meetings with attorneys
The detainees’ attorneys say their due process rights are among numerous constitutional protections being denied.

Blankenship is among the lawyers who have been refused access. After travelling to the remote facility and waiting for hours to speak with her clients, including a 15-year-old Mexican boy with no criminal charges, she was turned away by a security guard who told her to wait for a phone call in 48 hours that would notify her when she could return.

“I said, well, what’s the phone number that I can follow up with that? There is none,” Blankenship recalled. “You have due process obligations, and this is a violation of it.”

Arroyo’s client, a 36-year-old Mexican man who came to the U.S. as a child, has been detained at the center since July 5 after being picked up for driving with a suspended license in Florida’s Orange County. He’s a beneficiary of the DACA program, created to protect young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and to provide them with work authorization.


Blankenship’s Cuban client paid a bond and was told he’d be freed on a criminal charge in Miami, only to be detained and transferred to the Everglades.

Eig has been seeking the release of a client in his 50s with no criminal record and a stay of removal, meaning the government can’t legally deport him while he appeals. But she hasn’t been able to get a bond hearing. She’s heard that an immigration court inside the Krome Detention Center in Miami “may be hearing cases” from the Everglades facility, but as of Friday, they were still waiting.

“Jurisdiction remains an issue,” Eig said, adding “the issue of who’s in charge over there is very concerning.”
Is it worse than the Darrien Gap
 

spaminator

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Family of Canadian woman detained by ICE says it’s a ’nightmare’
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Kelly Geraldine Malone
Published Jul 19, 2025 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read

Montreal businesswoman Paula Callejas was arrested on March 28 following a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend in Florida.
Montreal businesswoman Paula Callejas was arrested on March 28 following a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend in Florida. Photo by Handout /Paula Callejas Group
WASHINGTON, D. C. — Paula Callejas was trying to expand her swimsuit business in Florida after taking time off to take care of her ailing father in Canada before his death. Instead of celebrating the fashion line, the Canadian was taken into United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.


The 45-year-old’s family said their finances are being stretched as they try to navigate the confusing and difficult legal and immigration systems in the United States.


“She was very strong, very strong,” said her mother Maria Estella Cano. “Now every, every day she (cries), every day and (says) she can’t take it anymore.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up deportation efforts since his return to the White House in January after successfully campaigning on a promise to take drastic actions on illegal immigration.

The immigration crackdown includes controversial actions like targeting students for protesting, as well as sending people to a notorious prison in El Salvador. There has been an increase in raids by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called ICE, at restaurants and farms amid dramatic standoffs with protesters.


While Trump’s team have said they are targeting criminals first, they also said anyone in the country illegally will be deported.

Callejas was born and raised in Montreal after her family immigrated from Colombia. She started her swimsuit line in Canada around 2012 and was gaining momentum but when her father became unwell she paused her dreams to help care for him.

Following her father’s 2020 death, Callejas restarted her efforts to build a swimsuit company. Family said she did a few runway shows in Florida over the years and saw that there was real opportunity for her fashion line to develop in the state. She even was invited to take part in Miami Swim Week last year.

She bought property in Florida, her mother said, and lived a modest life while working to build the brand.


Family said they believed she was in the United States on a non-immigrant visa for people with special skills that was set to expire in March. They said she applied for an extension in February, but it was denied for a technical reason around the colour of ink used to sign the document.

Family said Callejas reapplied, thinking the issue was solved.

On March 28, Callejas was arrested for battery after family said there was an altercation with her then-boyfriend. Family say Callejas maintains her innocence in the situation and said she was defending herself.

After posting bail, her family said Callejas was taken into ICE custody.

An ICE spokesperson said Callejas entered the United States on a non-immigrant visitor visa and violated the terms of her admission. ICE said she will “remain in custody pending completion of her immigration proceedings.”


Cano said her daughter’s detainment has been a “nightmare” for the family.

“Every time I open my eyes, it is not real life,” Cano said, holding back tears.

Family said Callejas has been transferred to at least three different facilities. Finances are being exhausted as they try to get legal representation. They said it cost US$5,000 just for one lawyer to submit paperwork.

As Callejas spends more time in detention, her mental health is also suffering, family said.

Canos said she wants her daughter to be able to have a fair chance to defend herself in court. Her next appearance for the criminal charge is on Monday.

Cano said when that is resolved they want Callejas to leave the United States on her own accord so that she can finish her visa application from Canada and continue her dreams of a swimwear line.


Global Affairs Canada said it could not provide information about particular cases because of privacy concerns.

The department said on June 27 it was aware of about 55 Canadians detained by ICE. The number of cases has remained relatively stable in recent months, it said, however it fluctuates as cases are resolved and new cases arise.


Johnny Noviello, a 49-year-old Canadian citizen, died in ICE custody in South Florida in June.

Noviello was being detained pending removal from the U.S., officials said. He entered the U.S. in 1988 on a legal visa and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991. He was convicted of drug trafficking and other charges in 2023 and sentenced to a year in prison, officials said.

Noviello was picked up by ICE agents at his probation office last month and charged with removability because of his drug conviction, authorities said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on social media at the time that “Canadian consular officials are urgently seeking more information from U.S. officials.”
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